ARTICLE X
ASSISTANCE AND PROTECTION AGAINST CHEMICAL WEAPONS

1. For the purposes of this Article, "Assistance" means the
coordination and delivery to States Parties of protection against
chemical weapons, including, inter alia, the following: detection
equipment and alarm systems; protective equipment; decontamination
equipment and decontaminants; medical antidotes and treatments; and
advice on any of these protective measures.

2. Nothing in this Convention shall be interpreted as impeding the
right of any State Party to conduct research into, develop, produce,
acquire, transfer or use means of protection against chemical weapons,
for purposes not prohibited under this Convention.

3. Each State Party undertakes to facilitate, and shall have the right
to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, material
and scientific and technological information concerning means of
protection against chemical weapons.

4. For the purposes of increasing the transparency of national
programmes related to protective purposes, each State Party shall
provide annually to the Technical Secretariat information on its
programme, in accordance with procedures to be considered and
approved by the Conference pursuant to Article VIII, paragraph 21 (i).

5. The Technical Secretariat shall establish, not later than 180 days
after entry into force of this Convention and maintain, for the use of any
requesting State Party, a data bank containing freely available
information concerning various means of protection against chemical
weapons as well as such information as may be provided by States
Parties.
The Technical Secretariat shall also, within the resources available
to it, and at the request of a State Party, provide expert advice and
assist the State Party in identifying how its programmes for the
development and improvement of a protective capacity against chemical
weapons could be implemented.

6. Nothing in this Convention shall be interpreted as impeding the
right of States Parties to request and provide assistance bilaterally and
to conclude individual agreements with other States Parties concerning
the emergency procurement of assistance.

7. Each State Party undertakes to provide assistance through the
Organization and to this end to elect to take one or more of the
following measures:

(a) To contribute to the voluntary fund for assistance to be established
by the Conference at its first session;

(b) To conclude, if possible not later than 180 days after this
Convention enters into force for it, agreements with the Organization
concerning the procurement, upon demand, of assistance;

(c) To declare, not later than 180 days after this Convention enters
into force for it, the kind of assistance it might provide in response to
an appeal by the Organization. If, however, a State Party subsequently is
unable to provide the assistance envisaged in its declaration, it is still
under the obligation to provide assistance in accordance with this
paragraph.

8. Each State Party has the right to request and, subject to the
procedures set forth in paragraphs 9, 10 and 11, to receive assistance
and protection against the use or threat of use of chemical weapons if it
considers that:

(a) Chemical weapons have been used against it;

(b) Riot control agents have been used against it as a method of
warfare; or

(c) It is threatened by actions or activities of any State that are
prohibited for States Parties by Article I.

9. The request, substantiated by relevant information, shall be
submitted to the Director-General, who shall transmit it immediately to
the Executive Council and to all States Parties. The Director-General
shall immediately forward the request to States Parties which have
volunteered, in accordance with paragraphs 7 (b) and (c), to dispatch
emergency assistance in case of use of chemical weapons or use of riot
control agents as a method of warfare, or humanitarian assistance in
case of serious threat of use of chemical weapons or serious threat of
use of riot control agents as a method of warfare to the State Party
concerned not later than 12 hours after receipt of the request. The
Director-General shall initiate, not later than 24 hours after receipt of
the request, an investigation in order to provide foundation for further
action. He shall complete the investigation within 72 hours and forward
a report to the Executive Council. If additional time is required for
completion of the investigation, an interim report shall be submitted
within the same time-frame. The additional time required for
investigation shall not exceed 72 hours. It may, however, be further
extended by similar periods. Reports at the end of each additional
period shall be submitted to the Executive Council. The investigation
shall, as appropriate and in conformity with the request and the
information accompanying the request, establish relevant facts related
to the request as well as the type and scope of supplementary assistance
and protection needed.

10. The Executive Council shall meet not later than 24 hours after
receiving an investigation report to consider the situation and shall take
a decision by simple majority within the following 24 hours on whether
to instruct the Technical Secretariat to provide supplementary
assistance. The Technical Secretariat shall immediately transmit to all
States Parties and relevant international organizations the investigation
report and the decision taken by the Executive Council. When so
decided by the Executive Council, the Director-General shall provide
assistance immediately. For this purpose, the Director-General may
cooperate with the requesting State Party, other States Parties and
relevant international organizations. The States Parties shall make the
fullest possible efforts to provide assistance.

11. If the information available from the ongoing investigation or other
reliable sources would give sufficient proof that there are victims of use
of chemical weapons and immediate action is indispensable, the
Director-General shall notify all States Parties and shall take emergency
measures of assistance, using the resources the Conference has placed
at his disposal for such contingencies. The Director-General shall keep
the Executive Council informed of actions undertaken pursuant to this
paragraph.